The Mountain Receipts

Receipts from the mountain kitchens.

A 1905 mountain-resort community cookbook, full of the odd, the regional, and the improbable. The pick here, each linking to its page.

1. A whole village's social register, written in recipes. The book was compiled to raise church funds, every dish contributed and signed — so it survives as one of the truest records of what an American town actually ate in 1911, from *Mrs. Fannie Smith's snow pudding* to *Mrs. Wendell S. Sherman's mock turtle soup*.Read it: About the Book
2. "Mock Turtle Soup" made from black beans. No turtle at all: three cups of black beans simmered with a soup bone, cloves and red pepper, strained, and finished in the tureen with chopped egg, a slice of lemon, and a spoon of catsup.Read it: Mock Turtle Soup
3. "Mock Cherry Pie" with never a cherry. A pie of chopped cranberries and raisins, sweetened and spiced, standing in for cherries out of season.Read it: Mock Cherry Pie (Chop fine one cup cranberries)
4. "Mock Mince Pie" built on green tomatoes. Half a peck of green tomatoes, apples, brown sugar and vinegar, spiced and canned — the raisins added only when the pie is made. — mock-mince- pie — A
5. "Mock Angel Cake" that skips the dozen egg-whites. A real angel cake needs a great heap of whites; this stand-in uses just two, plus a cup of boiling milk.Read it: Mock Angel Cake
6. Chocolate cake made with mashed potato. A cup of mashed potato folded into the batter of a walnut-chocolate cake — a thrifty trick for a moist crumb.Read it: Chocolate Potato Cake
7. Preserves from the heart of a watermelon. Six pounds of red watermelon flesh cooked down with sugar and lemon — figs, citron and *"a little extract of bitter almond"* added at the end.Read it: Watermelon Preserves
8. "Poor Man's Pudding." A steamed pudding of molasses, suet, raisins and flour — three hours in the steamer — its very name a small window on 1911 household economy.Read it: Poor Man'S Pudding
9. Mincemeat with no meat. "Green Tomato Mince Meat": a peck of green tomatoes with raisins, lemons, oranges and spice, boiled four hours — the meatless mincemeat of a thrifty kitchen.Read it: Green Tomato Mince Meat
10. Measured by the walnut and the egg. The recipes quantify butter the old way — *"a piece of butter the size of an egg,"* *"piece of butter size of walnut"* — a charming reminder of cooking before standardized cups. — green-tomato-mince-meat / mock-cherry-pie — B